Ticket printing device



Dec. 13, 1960 w. c. MOODIE, SR 2,963,968

TICKET PRINTING DEVICE Filed May 20, 1959 I w J15 WEN 1 1 1 H IN VEN TOR.

BY M ATTORNEY nit d S ates .P tfi 1O" TICKET PRINTING DEVICE William C. Moodie, Sr., Montclair, NJ., assignor to Calculagraph Co., Harrison, NJ., a corporation of New Jersey Filed May 20, 1959, Ser. No. 814,420

3 Claims. (Cl. 101-407) This invention relates to printing devices such as for the printing of elapsed time or other indicia on cards inserted intermediate a ribbon and platen. In such devices, relative movement of the printer and platen occurs for impression of the printed indicia onto the card and for subsequently separating the parts.

The present invention is designed to prevent entanglement of the parts during these operations by lifting the card clear of the guide plate prior to and immediately after the printing operation which may thus be performed effectively and efliciently.

These objects of the invention are attained by the novel structure of the invention, more particularly described below and exemplified in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a guide plate used in carrying out the invention, taken at line 1-1 of Fig. 5,

Fig. 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary sectional view of a corner of the gate strip secured to said guide plate, taken at line 22 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is an enlarged, medial, sectional view of the guide plate and gate strip, taken at line 33 of Fig. 1,

4 is a bottom plan view of the guide plate,

Fig. 5 1s a schematic elevational view of a printing device embodying the invention, taken at the position noted at line 5-5 of Fig. l, and

Fig. 6 is an enlarged, fragmentary, sectional view of said guide plate, taken at line 66 of Fig. 1.

As shown in the drawing, the device of the invention is adapted for use in a printing machine having (Fig. 5) a platen 10 and a printer which may be a single unit or may consist, for example, of the head members 11 shown dotted in Fig. 1 and a printing block 12, tor the printing of time, numbers or other indicia simultaneously or in timed sequence onto a card 13, by a ribbon 14 or other inking media applied to printing members 11 and 12. The card 13 may be inserted into the device from the end 23 of said device, as indicated by the arrows 15, 16 (Fig. 1).

Pursuant to the invention, a guide plate 20 is secured to said device rigidly (as by passing bolts or the like through apertures 21) to dispose it in fixed position intermediate the printing head and platen 10. Relative movement of the printing head and platen is attained by any means, such as will be apparent to those skilled in this art, for printing the desired indicia onto the card, after which the parts are moved apart to restore them to their initial (Fig. 5) position. In previous printing devices of this type, entanglement frequently occurred in the print ing operations, requiring corrective action by the operator, damaging the parts and resulting in defective printing. The present invention overcomes this problem by the following means: The guide plate 20 is provided with a recessed portion 22 extending inwardly of one end 23 of said plate, said recess being defined by side (24, 25) and bottom (26) walls (Fig. 4), the bottom wall 26 being substantially parallel to said end 23 of the plate 20. A gate strip 27 is formed so as to be freely 2,963,968 R nt d Des-13125! ice positioned in the recess 22 and means are providedlfor pivotally securing said gate strip to the guide plate 20 adjacent the bottom 26 of said recess as, for example, by securing pivot pins 28 (Fig. 4) to the ends of said gate strip 27 and providing bearings 29 (which may be aligned recessed portions in said plate 20) into which the pivot pins 28 are inserted or otherwise secured to thereby freely pivotally mount the gate strip 27 on guide plate 20. Means are provided urging said gate strip upwardly toward the platen such as (Fig. 4) spring strips 30, 31 rigidly secured at one end to the guide plate 20 and extending at the other end beyond the bottom wall 26 of the recess and into said recess so that (Fig. 6) said sprlng strips will normally urge the gate strip 27 upwardly above the upper surface of the guide plate 20. A substantially rigid stop stud 33 may be secured to the guide plate 20 (Figs. 4 and 3), to prevent excessive downward movement of the gate strip 27; said stop stud 33 may be medially secured to the underside of the plate 20 (Fig. 3) to extend into the recessed portion 22 of said plate beyond the bottom wall 26 of said recessed portion. A guide block 34 (Fig. 1) may be secured to the top of the guide plate 20 adjacent a corner 35 of the recess 22 to align the card 13 becoming inserted into the device. The gate strip may be recessed at the free edge 36 (Fig. 4) thereof remote from the bottom 26 of the recess to permit clearance of the printers 11, 12 during the printing operation.

From the foregoing it will be noted that the printer 11 is juxtaposed in the device parallel to and spaced from the platen 10 for printing the card 13 inserted between the printer and platen on relative movement of the printer and platen, the flat guide plate 20 being rigidly secured to the device intermediate the printer 11 and platen 10. The inner end 26 of the recess 22 is substantially parallel to the end 23 of the guide plate 20 from which the recess 22 extends. The spring means 30, 31 tilt the gate strip 27 upwardly (Fig. 3) and toward the platen to hold the card 13 above the recess 22 and avoid entanglement of the card, ribbon and printers in the reciprocation of the printers past the free edge 36 of the gate during and at the completion of the printing operation.

The gate strip may be downturned at the outer corners 37 thereof (Figs. 1 and 2) remote from the point of connection (28, 29) of the gate strip with the guide plate to facilitate movement of the card thereover on insertion and removal thereof.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a card printing device having a platen and an indicia printer juxtaposed parallel to and spaced from the platen and a ribbon intermediate the printer and the platen, for printing indicia on a card inserted between the ribbon and the platen on relative movement of the printer and platen, the improvement which consists of a flat plate rigidly secured to the device intermediate the ribbon and platen, said plate being provided with a recessed portion extending substantially inwardly of one end of said plate, the inner end of said recessed portion being substantially parallel to the said end of the plate, said recess enabling the printer to press against the card to print the indicia on the latter, a gate strip proportioned for free positioning in said recessed portion and partially closing the latter, means securing said gate strip pivotally to the plate, and means engaging said gate strip and plate urging said gate strip toward the platen, whereby, on insertion of a card intermediate the plate and platen and over the gate strip, said card will be held by the gate strip above the plate, preventing entanglement of the parts on movement of the ribbon by the printer through the plate recess and, against the card,

printing the card, and on reverse movement of said fii'ifiti' away from the fibfibfi find (231111, 611 completion of said printing operation.

2.- In a card printing device as set forth in claim 1, said recessed pe'rfion being formed with shar ly defined earners remote from said one end of the plate, and a guide block Seiild f0 the Plat adjacent 0116 Of said CO1- ners for guiding the inserted card into proper position on the plate and across the recess portion thereof.

7 3. In a card printing device as set forth in claim 1, said gate strip being so secured to the plate by, pins laterally extending from the gate strip and bearing portions provided in said plate to receive said pins.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,131,602 Doremus -q Mar. 9, 1915 1,241,097 De Roode Sept. 25, 1917 1,703,106 Hedman Feb. 26, 1929 1,783,182 Carlson Dec. 2, 1930 1,984,706 Slettevold a Dec. 18, 1934 2,022,136 Payne Nov. 26, 1935 

